Jairus Byrd looks forward to getting inside Rob Ryan’s head

Jairus Byrd joined the Saints for several reasons, including the fact they paid him a lot of money.

But the former Bills safety said he was looking forward to bringing his ability to create turnovers to the creative defenses of coordinator Rob Ryan.

“To have that ability with an offense that’s gonna put up points and a stingy defense like that and exotic in the way Coach Ryan calls things, it’s unorthodox, it’s gonna keep people guessing,” Byrd said, via Mike Triplett of ESPN.com. “That combination right there was enough.”

His conversations with Ryan have been limited about his role so far, but Byrd said he could tell it’s going to be exciting.

“Yeah, definitely,” Byrd said. “Look, he has some stuff in his head that he’s gonna get out one way or the other.”

Putting Byrd next to last year’s first-round pick Kenny Vaccaro should allow Ryan to get even more creative, as he has two established playmakers in the back of his defense.

Along with a unit that outperformed every expectation a year ago, that gives Byrd plenty to look forward to.

Going to be very hard to throw on the Saints this year. Had the #2 pass defense in the league and swapped Jairus Byrd for Malcolm Jenkins, then added Champ Bailey to be the nickel or dime back. Yeah, that’s a pretty good secondary.

With Rob Ryan, there doesn’t seem to be any set plan. He just comes up with schemes that best suit his players. The addition of Byrd will give him a lot of options. It will be fun to see what he comes up with.

Who dat? They’ll take away most big plays with a healthy Byrd playing center field. Gotta get tougher to force teams to speed up the tempo and pass, so Breed and company get more snaps. Saints will be a tough out next postseason.

silentcount says:Apr 18, 2014 11:05 PM

Have a very strong feeling the Saints will dominate on both sides of the ball. They’ll be better than the 2009 version.